'Apes,' 'Captain America,' 'Pirates' also top contenders

“Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2″ and “Transformers: Dark of the Moon” followed with five nominations, with “Rise of the Planet of the Apes” earning four bids.

“Rise of the Planet of the Apes,” “Harry Potter,” and “Transformers” will face off against each other and “Captain America: The First Avenger,” and “Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides” in the outstanding visual effects in a visual effects-driven feature motion picture, considered one of the most prestigious honors at the awards.

“When you look at this year’s nominees you’re really seeing that visual effects have moved out of their child stage and matured into a young adult stage,” said Jeffrey Okun, VES chair. “You’re seeing visual effects integrated into the storytelling and becoming part of the overall experience, not just seeing visual effects that are there for the sake of them being there.”

Okun also noted that there were an unprecedented number of entries in the outstanding visual effects in a student project category and that the overall quality of the entries was so high the judges settled on six nominees rather than the usual four.

The 10th annual VES Awards will be held Feb. 7 at the Beverly Hilton Hotel and will air exclusively on ReelzChannel. Stan Lee will receive the VES 2012 Lifetime Achievement Award and Douglas Trumbull will receive the Georges Melies Award.